in hofpitals, and crowded barracks, clofe tranfport-hips, and, in a word, in every other place where air is fo pent up, not only lofes a part of its vital principle, by frequent refpiration, but is alfo corrupted by the perfpirable matter of the body, which, as it is the most volatile part of the humours, is alfo the most putrefcent.'

We have a very melancholy confirmation of the truth of this remark, and a strong inftance of the fubtle, penetrating nature of thefe noxious effluvia, in fome facts that fell within the knowledge of Dr. Brocklesby during the late war; and are by him related in his Medical obfervations tending to the improvement of military hofpitals, &c.

After the unprofperous expedition (fays this ingenious phyfician) against the coaft of France in the year 1758, a very unusual number of fick foldiers were lodged every where round Newport in the Ifle of Wight, in old houfes, barns, &c. In one of thefe clofe hovels, or miferable hofpitals, a poor fellow, of the ixty-third regiment, was placed, on being landed fick out of the tranfport. In a day or two he was feized with the worst fpecies of the malignant fore throat I ever have feen, with ulcerous mortifications about the noftrils and other parts, which carried him off on the third day.

which was difplaced to make way for him. He was inftantly attacked by the fame dreadful diforder, and, after a fhort struggle, fell a victim to it.

A third man was condemned, by hard neceflity, to the fame fatal abode, and foon fhared the fate of his comrades. Roufed by fo many melancholy proofs of deadly infection, befides what had been already attempted, 1 ordered frefn bedding of every fort, the boards all around to be feraped, and tho roughly washed with vinegar. Dc pending on this, but rather compelled by the founty space that was allotted to the, fick, a fourth victim, in the fame deplorabie manner, fell a facrifice to this irreftible con tagion.

Another patient unfortunately was placed in the fame bed, with only fresh fheets; for the crowds, that hourly fickened, compelled us to be thrifty in the general ufe of bedding and blankets, fo that he happened to be lodged in the fame fpot, even before death had quite chilled the putrefying body,

Now again the ill-fated fpot underwent a moft rational purification; vinegar fumes, burnt gunpowder, kindled refinous fubitan. ces, were used in abundance; all the contiguous parts were scraped, washed, and fumigated. A fifth man, we thought, after all this precaution, might fafely be ventured; but, alas! the event fruftrated our expectations, for he was attacked with the fame difeafe, and not without much difficulty efcaped perishing in it.

Thus, after all we could do, the fpot continued more dangerously infectious to the next comer, than I fuppofe any leprous houfe was ever known among the Ifraelites. Though no figns were manifested upon the walls (Leviticus xiv.), yet having loft four brave men, and having with difficulty faved the fifth, I was as much fatisfied of the danger belonging to it, as any farther ocular demonstration could have conveyed to others. I there

fore

fore prohibited any more men to be lodged there, till after a longer interval than feven or eight days; and yet, notwithstanding this precaution, the foldier who next lay there fuffered a like attack, though he had the good fortune to reco. ver from it, but not without much difficulty.

This inftance clearly demonfrates, that nothing fhort of fcraping away the whole external furface of the floor, as well as of the walls, and thereby fubftituting an entire new layer of the whole infide of the houfe, is capable to extinguish the feeds of infection in certain diseases once fown, nor to prevent them from breaking out after a long time, even in this cold northern region. [For the cheap, eafy, and expeditions method taken by the doctor, to prevent the breeding of fuch infectiousness for the future, and for the Speedy recovery of his military patients, fee our Projects for this year.]

with the fick, 8 dwelt feparate, 18 were at fea, and 40 lived in English families. The phyfi. cian informs me, that the blood and juices appeared to be highly putrid, and that the difeafe was attended with a violent inflammato.y fever, which carry them off in about five days. The feafon was uncommonly moift and cold, and the diftemper began original. ly among them; but, having once made its appearance, feems to have been propagated by contagion; although fome efcaped it, who were expofed to the infection.

The diftemper made its appear ance at Martha's Vineyard the beginning of December 1763. It went through every family into which it came, not one escaping it; 52 Indians had it, 39 of whom died; thofe who recovered, were chiefly of the younger fort.

The appearance of the diftemper was much the fame in both these islands; it carried them off, in each, in five or fix days. What is ftill more remarkable than even the great mortality of the diftemper, is, that not one English per. fon had it in either of the islands, although the English greatly exceed in numbers; and that fome perfons in one family, who were of a mixt breed, half Dutch and half Indian, and one in another family, half Indian and half Negro, had the diflemper, and all recovered; and that no perfon at all died of it, but fuch as were entirely of Indian blood. From hence it was called the Indian fick nefs.

There had been a great scarcity of corn among the Indians the preceding winter; this, together

been affigned by fome as the caufes of the diftemper among them. Thefe circumftances, it is true, may have difpofed them to a mor. bid habit, but do not account for its peculiarity to the Indians: the English breathed the fame air, and fuffered in fome measure by the carcity with the Indians; they yet efcaped the fickness. I do not See therefore, but that the Sudor Anglicus, which heretofore affected the English only, and this late Indian ficknefs, muft be claffed together among the Arcana of Providence.

Attempt to account for the female cuckoo's leaving the care of hatching and rearing ber young to other birds.

AMONG the philofophy,

cafes in natural philofophy, that uncommon one of the cuckoo is none of the leaft worthy of our confideration: viz. why fuch a Carnivorous bird, whofe chief food is infects, fhould be fo fingular, as always to intruft the hatching of her eggs, and bringing up her young, to the care of other fmaller birds, without ever building a neft herself, or being at all concerned any further about them. This feemingly unnatural difpofition, which would juftly be accounted cruel in a rational creature, is, as we shall fee, upon due examination, a piece of confummate economy in her cafe, and a plain proof of the in. finite wisdom of her great Creator.

This odd action proceeds not from any principle of carelessness

is founded on the folid reafon of her own fecurity. Hence we may humbly conclude, that many unaccountable, and fometimes very furprifing phænomena, which at first fight appear even prepofterous and ftrange unto us, are originally owing only to the narrow limits of our fhallow understanding, and to our own ignorance of the nature of things.

Here anatomy alone, as a fure index, directs us to the right reafon, why this bird alone, the cuckoo, beftows fo little care about continuing its fpecies, and yet wife nature provides for them all as well, nay much better, in her circumstances, than if she did.

Know then, that the ftomach of birds is fituated quite different from what it is in other animals, and alfo in cuckoos, being almost joined to the back, fecured by the bones of the reins, and covered before with the inteftines, behind which it lies fecurely defended, and concealed.

This fingular fituation of the ftomach in birds affords them a very great facility, and fecurity, of fitting on their eggs and young; fince the parts being immediately upon them, are foft, warm and pliable, and without danger from the compreffion, which would be hazardous, if the weight, hardnefs, and preffure of a large and full ftomach, was to rest upon them, as in the very cafe of the cuckoo.

Befides, this fingular structure fecures a warm covering to the egg in hatching, and to the young as foon as hatched; for their tender ftomachs being defended from the impreffion of the cold air by

Whereas, on the contrary, the ftomach of a cuckoo lies very for ward, juft under the integuments, and actually covers the inteftines; the very reverfe of the cafe in other birds, where it is covered by them. The cuckoo's stomach is a large bag, of uncommon capacity, adhering by a cellular tiffne, or reticular net, to all the parts that environ it, reaching all the way from the breast bone to the vent,

From fuch a ftructure and fituation of the ftomach, it naturally follows, that it is as difficult for a cuckoo, as it is eafy for other birds, to fit upon her eggs and young; for the thin membranes of its large ftomach, charged fo long with the weight of its whole body, together with the hard ali.

ment

contained therein, would prove an intolerable compreffion to both it and its tender young.

It also follows from the particular structure of this bird, that its young do not stand in like need of being covered as thofe of other birds do, their capacious ftomachs being better fecured from cold by means of lying covered under the mafs of intestines. All which put together is the real reafon why the cuckoo commits the care of hatching and bringing up its young to very small birds, fuch as hedge. fparrows, firches, and the like; wherefore it needs no neft of its own, as it makes fo free with thofe of others, which in the abfence of the right owner, the enters, feizes upon, and deftroys all the eggs fhe

HE original of thefe pigeons came from Bazora in Perfia, being fometimes brought by fea, and fometimes in the caravans; and are therefore by fome ignorant people called Buffories.

This city is fituate about two miles diftant from a river called Xat Arab, which is formed by the meeting of the too great rivers Tygris and Euphrates: near this place is a fmall houfe like an hermitage, dedicated to Iza ben Mariam, that is, Jefus the fon of Mary in paffing which place, the Mahometans themselves very devoutly offer up their prayers: there is likewife a confiderable quantity of land, whofe revenues be long to this chapel.

:

This pigeon is called a carrier, because it is frequently made ufe

of